live from washington, this is bbc news. the un security council calls for an "emergency meeting" after an israeli air strike on rafah in southern gaza kills dozens. rescue teams try to reach survivors of a papua new guinea landslide that buried more than 2,000 people, according to the government. and ukraine's president meets with european leaders to drum up more military aid. hello, i'm helena humphrey. glad you could join me. the un security council will convene for a closed—door emergency meeting on tuesday, after an israeli airstike killed dozens of people in rafah. video shows the aftermath of the strikes, as a massive fire ripped through tents near the southern gazan city. at least 45 people were killed — including women and children — at a camp for displaced people. that's according to the hamas—run health ministry.

the israel defense forces say the air strike killed two senior members of hamas. appearing before the knesset on monday, israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu called it a "tragic mishap". mr netanyahu said israel will follow policy as it looks into the matter. the united nations secretary general antonio guterres responded to the strike, saying... sunday's air strikes happened near a un facility in the tal al—sultan area — about two kilometres north—west of the centre of rafah. 0ur middle east correspondent lucy williamson has more on the attack, and a warning, her report contains some upsetting images. morning didn't end the nightmare, but it brought the children, picking through the debris of the dead. the burned remains of shelters mark the place where israel says a top hamas commander

was hiding among thousands of displaced families fleeing the fighting in rafah to the south. translation: we were - preparing our children's beds for the night and we heard a very loud noise and fire erupted all around us. all the children started screaming, the shelter was shaking and our room was full of shrapnel. the air strike hit an area seen as outside israel's current military assault. shouting israel says it used precise munitions, intelligence, and aerial surveillance to reduce the risk to civilians — but that the strike ignited fires across the camp. local reports suggest there was a fuelling station nearby. gaza's hamas—run government says dozens were killed and injured, many of them children.

hospitals starved of supplies now flooded with patients, the barely alive. the emotionally dead. shouting israel's army says it has launched an investigation. last night, the idf targeted two hamas commanders in rafah whose hands were drenched in israeli blood. civilian casualties are desperately sad, but this is the war hamas wanted and started. yesterday, hamas rockets were fired from rafah towards tel aviv and surrounding israeli towns. all those heading for urban areas were intercepted. gaza's civilians can't rely on their government's defences. a family car, today a makeshift hearse for his only sister.

where israel and hamas talk of victory, families count their losses until all that is left are the people and then even they are gone. lucy williamson, bbc news, jerusalem. earlier, i spoke to hani almadhoun, the director of philanthropy of unrwa usa — the united nations agency for palestine refugees. i began by asking him what he made of mr netanyahu's description of the air strike as a "tragic mishap". asa as a palestinian, these words made merry little. because words are cheap, talk is cheap. i'd love to see an action where there is an actual cease—fire. —— very little. my folks, my colleagues at unwra are under threat and constant attacks, and lack safety and food. and those are areas we need help with as palestinians. when we talk about "we got caught, a

mistake, oops," you don't kill 40 mistake, oops," you don't kill a0 people and say, "it's an oops, we didn't need to." we've lost many of our family members, and we know it's a mistake, they have nothing to do with any of this. but sadly, no press releases to say "sorry we killed your family by accident," we are not really interested in apology to us right now, what we need is more aid to go in for people who need it and a sense of safety for people who have nothing to do with the stop i want to talk more about the aid situation in a ., , more about the aid situation in a moment, but perhaps you can cive us a moment, but perhaps you can give us some — a moment, but perhaps you can give us some context _ a moment, but perhaps you can give us some context in - a moment, but perhaps you can give us some context in terms | give us some context in terms of a displacement camp like the one we saw hit — what's it like being there, in terms of people trying to get out when there is that fire, in terms of people being able to extinguish the fire, limited access to water, for example, narrow areas? just paint us a picture. 50 for example, narrow areas? just paint us a picture.— paint us a picture. so 7896 of the gaza _ paint us a picture. so 7896 of the gaza strip _ paint us a picture. so 7896 of the gaza strip is _ paint us a picture. so 7896 of

the gaza strip is under - the gaza strip is under evacuation orders. as you can imagine, it's an already crowded area, and now people have to crowd up with each other. we talk about the area in khan younis which is already overcrowded, there's no drinking water for people, and remember they ran out of tents so people are now sleeping in the streets, just trying to survive wherever they are promised safety. we understand that neither the police is —— the places they are leaving or places leaving the back of their leaving to our safe zones. this has been shown over and overagain, and if you zones. this has been shown over and over again, and if you like and overagain, and if you like and over again, and if you like a broken record, but we know there is no safety anywhere we go. i have folks who just moved from rafah to their embolic, they say it's not a very pleasant situation, with mosquitoes and trash, there is a lack of food. folks in the north right now are talking about drones — they are under siege — and that's the reality, people can't leave north gaza, there are 300,000 people there

and they are under attack, and my family remains. and unfortunately, they are running out of supplies, but also there's a lot of generosity in various ways of death. my brother was on the balcony fearing for his life, he said that he would not take any calls, and we pray for their safety. i calls, and we pray for their safe . , ., . safety. i remember a recent interview — safety. i remember a recent interview when _ safety. i remember a recent interview when you - safety. i remember a recent interview when you were - safety. i remember a recent i interview when you were here with bbc last talking about your brother, and together you had set up a soup kitchen, managing to feed around 600 families in the north — but we know that once again, some idf operations have resumed again in the north of the gaza strip. what does that mean for that soup kitchen? 50 what does that mean for that soup kitchen?— what does that mean for that soup kitchen? so literally, the tanks are _ soup kitchen? so literally, the tanks are two _ soup kitchen? so literally, the tanks are two blocks - soup kitchen? so literally, the tanks are two blocks away - soup kitchen? so literally, thel tanks are two blocks away from where my family is sheltering, three blocks away from the soup kitchen — so we suspended the operation about three days ago. and this is a family service for our friends and this is a family service for ourfriends and and this is a family service for our friends and neighbours, so we are not cooking there because there's drones and it's

a real threat. so most folks in that area evacuated a little bit west from that. but my brother started giving bread, so he found some bakery, thanks to the work of unwra and other un agencies that deliver flower and fuel to the bakeries that sell it at a discount to cover the labour. so we are doing that to help the people but it's a very bleak picture, very unsafe situation. there's really no more aid to give out, the agencies like unwra had to close shop in rafah, and they stayed as long as they could. but now we are where we want a cease—fire and want more aid. 0n cease—fire and want more aid. on that point, we know the un security council is set to hold an emergency meeting to talk about this. also we've got 19 humanitarian groups are urging an urgent call for the un security council to take action — do you think there will be action? i - do you think there will be action? ., , - do you think there will be action? , ,., �* - do you think there will be action? .,, �* , action? i hope so, i'll believe it when i— action? i hope so, i'll believe it when i see _ action? i hope so, i'll believe it when i see it. _ action? i hope so, i'll believe it when i see it. we've - action? i hope so, i'll believej it when i see it. we've gotten so close in the last three months to a cease—fire. there's

a lot of communications of aid, "hey, here's this crossing, this is closed, go here." it's unfortunate because real people are starved. today i put a picture on my facebook of the cute girl whom we served rice, and a doctor in michigan called me and said, "this girls severely malnourished," the bones are deteriorating, the muscle tissues deteriorating. he said he's been seeing it more and more in older people in my videos. i didn't think about that, know it's real but the doctor flagged it right away. papua new guinea says it is evacuating thousands of people amid warnings of another landslide. this comes as officials estimated more than 2,000 people were buried alive in the massive landslide that swept over villages in the northern part of country on friday. aid agencies say they're struggling to reach people as rocks are still falling, and the ground is still moving. the unstable terrain is making work dangerous for rescue teams. the government has formally asked for international help to cope with the disaster that hit a remote village in enga province.

0ur correspondent katy watson has been monitoring the developments and sent this report. help is desperately needed here in enga province. but while people wait for it to arrive, there is nothing else for it. they are digging through debris with any tool they can find. nearly four days on from the landslide, few bodies have been pulled from the rubble. while this family is able to bury their loved one, not many here are being afforded this moment. translation: l have 18 - of my family members buried under the debris and soil that i'm standing on, and a lot more family members in the village i cannot count. i am the landowner here, but i cannot retrieve the bodies, so i'm standing here helplessly. it was 3am in the morning on friday when the landslide struck, wiping out well over 100 houses while residents were asleep. the problem is, it is so deep,

it is really difficult to recover the bodies from underneath the heavy debris. and the land is still sliding, rocks are continuing to fall. papua new guinea has called for international assistance. neighbouring australia has already responded and humanitarian agencies are on the ground. but more help is needed in what's looking more like a recovery than a rescue mission. this is a community in mourning and people here are still waiting to say their goodbyes. katy watson, bbc news. to discuss the response, i spoke to mate bagossy. mate is leading the un development programme's humanitarian response in papua new guinea. the latest we've been hearing is there is an evacuation order in place for almost 8,000 people as the ground is still moving. what's the latest that you can tell us about that? are people able to get out?

thank you for having me. so, yes, around approximately almost 8,000 people have been identified as living in an area that's under imminent threat of further landslide. and therefore, we need to organise significantly — a big evacuation, some people live in areas that are much more exposed than others, by evacuation is probably needed while we also await for further geological expertise of the affected area. mate, are you getting the help that is needed there on the ground? because i know that it's difficult terrain, there's been a request for international aid workers to be able to access area — is that coming? we've seen scenes of people having to dig through that area with whatever they have at hand. so, yes, there are two sides to this. one is the search and

recovery of bodies — very unlikely at this stage we will find any more survivors. the other, of course, is the provision of assistance for those who have been affected and the survivors. so efforts are under way, there's already some limited amount of supplies that have been delivered through the provincial administration, the catholic church and other partners. this is mainly food and water, and we have a very good engagement and support by the international partners, including the united nations agencies and ngos. this morning, we had a disaster management team meeting, convening different international actors, and the feedback has been very positive. support is indedd on the way. some items that are in papua new guinea and are being transported to the diaspora area, others are being flown from australia and from other bilateral partners.

so overall, we expect the assistance might be delayed, perhaps it will come in stages, of course, it's notjust the initial stage we are having now, tomorrow there will be more and so on. but we hope the needs will be covered ultimately. mate, we were seeing in the report these scenes of a community absolutely devastated — just talk to us about the grief there on the ground, with so many people now affected, it must be overwhelming. it is overwhelming, i think many of us here have significant experience here in humanitarian operations. and it's a very tragic environment, as you can imagine, people are in shock and this was very unexpected. landslides do occur regularly in this part of the country, especially in the highlands, but not of this magnitude and not in areas this populated. this was really very unlucky, the exact location where it happened, so people are trying

to dig up their relatives, and psychological, psychosocial support is one of the needs identified through the first assessments. this will be very difficult for them to recover from the shock — but also i'd like to highlight the enormous dignity and work, and resilience of these people of enga, who have been really exposed to regular disasters. it was very impressive for us to be underground yesterday, ijust came back from the affected location, it was sad and difficult indeed. i can well imagine. is there a warning system for something like this? i can imagine the long—term needs as well will be great when so people must�*ve lost their homes. so papua new guinea is a country exposed to different types of natural hazards, from cyclones to volcanoes, to hurricanes. so there are warnings

for volcanic eruptions, but not particularly for landslides. what we're doing with the united nations is supporting the government of papua new guinea by establishing risk hazard mappings of different provinces that we hope will promote better arrangements, in terms of operation settlements and safety, insecurity and preemptive works. but there's a lot of work to be done in the longer term, and indeed, resettlement could potentially be one, evacuation, and so on. we have a challenge here that finding safe, available available land is a problem in papua new guinea. so all resettlement plans need to be carefully planned. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. let's look at another story making the headlines. sir keir starmer has pledged to "stop the chaos" and "rebuild the country" in his first major speech of the election campaign. the labour leader appealed to undecided voters, and urged people to trust him to deliver economic stability and protect national security. incumbent rishi sunak was also

out campaigning and dismissed the speech as "waffle" — saying it contained "not a single plan for the future". let's have a listen. whatever the polls say, i know there are countless people who haven't decided how they'll vote in this election. they still have questions about us. "has labour changed enough? "do i trust them with my money, our borders, our security?" my answer is, yes, you can. meanwhile, visiting a football club in buckinghamshire, rishi sunak defended the conservative's plan for mandatory national service for 18—year—olds. he said it was a "bold" proposal which would foster a culture of service and strengthen the country's security. you're live with bbc news. ukrainian president volodymr zelensky is urging western allies to use all means possible, including coercion, to pressure russia into peace. however, the ukrainian leader rejected the idea of inviting

russia to a planned peace summit in switzerland next month — and has long maintained that he would not directly negotiate with moscow until all forces had left ukrainian territory, including crimea. mr zelensky made the comments in spain, where madrid pledged to provide over one billion euros in support to ukraine's military this year. the agreement runs for a decade, and promises to supply modern military hardware and protect food export routes. 0ur reporter guy hedgecoe in spain has more. mr sanchez, the spanish prime minister, has said that this help will include patriot missiles, leopard tanks, and ammunition — sojust over one billion euros' worth of military material there. but this is a bilateral deal that goes beyond just purely providing ukraine with weapons — it will also expand into areas of reconstruction of ukraine, as well, and also into humanitarian areas, as well, support in those certain areas.

so, mr sanchez and mr zelensky were both presenting this as a very significant bilateral deal which, as they present it, is notjust about this military material that's being presented today — or which will be presented over the coming months — but something which goes much beyond that and into the coming years, as well. on tuesday, mr zelensky will visit belgium to sign a security pact with the country's prime minister. one of the top issues for american voters in this presidential race — along with the economy — is immigration. the number of undocumented migrants crossing the southern border into the us hit record highs in december — though those figures are now down significantly. rescue crews in the us state of texas tell the bbc they witnessed an unprecedented rate of drownings over the last year—and—a—half, as more people try to make the deadly river crossing over the borderfrom mexico. 0ur correspondent tom bateman reports from the border town of eagle pass.

a warning, this report contains some distressing images. where the deadly waters of the rio grande meet the razor wire of america's southern frontier, a woman has waded her way from the mexican side, finally reaching the safety of us soil. she pleads to cross the fence. she has gone back into the water. oh, my goodness, oh, my goodness, oh, my goodness. an activist films the scene as the woman met by us guards returns to the river, which is notorious for the numbers killed trying to cross. herfate is now unknown. directly on the other side, it goes slower, you can see through and you can see the river right there. we joined a volunteer who saw the scene unfold. here, at the ground zero of america's bitter feud over immigration. in texas, drownings have risen dramatically in the last 18 months, as the numbers of people trying to cross into the us hit record highs.

i felt very helpless there, and i felt like there was nothing that i could do. and i remind myself that telling her story, telling what i witnessed, that words have power. this is one person, one story, but this is happening hundreds of times on our border. we are out with a rescue crew. geared up to fight fires, these days, they are the first responders to a global surge of movement, as people fleeing conflict or seeking work in america encounter its hidden dangers. people don't understand when they cross, right now, it looks slow, but as soon as they get in, they are going to feel the power of the river, and it is always in the middle area, and they underestimate it. a border patrol brings its boat in, but the rescue team's hopes quickly fade. they pull the body of a man to the shore. no—one knows where hisjourney started, only how it ends,

a fate these teams see here every day. this man's pockets have been checked. they found no documentation, no id, so at the moment nobody knows who he is, where he has come from, which country he has come from. we have heard so many of the political rows about this issue of immigration, but in the end, this is the human cost. there are no recent official figures on the numbers killed in the river. hundreds drowned last year. the republican governor of texas says his troops and razor wire deter crossings — a claim activists reject, saying they have made it more dangerous. tragedy keeps flowing into this riverside town. immigration is now a decisive election issue at home, but one they know here along the border also needs global answers, in the town where they bury the dead with no names. tom bateman, bbc news,

eagle pass, in texas. after nearly five weeks, closing arguments in donald trump's hush money case will begin on tuesday. the former us president faces 3a charges for allegedly falsifying business records to cover up payments made to adult film star stormy daniels ahead of the 2016 election. he has denied all of the allegations. if found guilty, mr trump would become the first former us president with a criminal conviction, and the first major party candidate to run for the white house as a felon. ahead of the closing arguments and jury deliberations, my colleague sumi somaskanda spoke with robert costa — cbs chief elections and campaign correspondent. he is very much unhappy with this case. it has been a burden for him politically, it's eaten up a tonne of his time when he wants to be focused on president biden and the general election. and, whether he's convicted or not, you can expect donald trump, according to his allies, to vent his grievances throughout the rest

of the summer about this case. but at the same time, i'm told by sources close to president biden they'll use the culmination of this case, the end of it as an opportunity to finally start to talk a little bit more about trump's conduct, to bring that into the light. they've been a bit hands—off talking about this case because it's an ongoing criminal trial. extreme weather around the world this weekend has left a number of countries reeling. in the us, storms left 22 people dead. sunday saw more than 600 reports of storm damage across 20 states — making it the busiest severe weather day in the us this year. meanwhile, at least 16 people are dead after a cyclone battered coastal parts of the south asian subcontinent. cyclone remal hit southern bangladesh and eastern india with winds of up to iiokph — destroying thousands of homes and leaving millions without power. remal has moved further inland and weakened, but india's weather department warns of continued heavy showers over the next two days. and neighbouring pakistan is in the grip of a heatwave with temperatures rising above 52 celsius — or 125 fahrenheit —

the highest reading of the summer so far. hospitals are treating people for heatstroke. and a 60—year—old argentine beauty queen's run for miss universe came to an end at the weekend — but alejandra rodriguez says herjourney is just the first step in changing society's perceptions. the trained attorney and journalist made headlines in april when she was crowned miss buenos aires, becoming the first person in her 60s to win a contest organised by the miss universe franchise. until 2023, contestants had to be between the ages of 18 and 28 — but as of this year, there is no upper age limit. the rules also changed to allow the participation of women who are married or divorced, and who have given birth or are pregnant. stay with us here on bbc news.

hello. the weather over the bank holiday weekend was quite changeable for many of us, and more of the same in the days ahead. tuesday for many will be a rather cloudy day, rain at times, a bit of sunshine, i think, later on in the afternoon. now, the weather front that's approaching us is already visible on the satellite picture. it's not particularly big, it's not going to be particularly wet, but i think enough of the low pressure to give us a fairly dreary day, at least for a time. now, through the night, cloud and rain will approach western parts of the uk, but towards the east, it's generally clear. so, from norwich to newcastle and aberdeen, i think here, first thing in the morning, some sunshine and temperatures around 8—9 — a bit milder out towards the west where we've got these atlantic winds. so, here's all of that cloud and some rain spreading across the country. later in the day, sunshine developing. certainly, i think the afternoon is looking brighter in northern ireland, and there'll be sunny spells

in wales and the midlands. and in fact, through the course of the evening, i think there'll be some late brightness as well as that weather front slowly drifts into the north sea. so, that's tuesday. the low pressure still with us on wednesday. you can see these weather fronts are dragging their heels, and i think on wednesday, it's going to be more of a day of sunny spells and heavy showers. some of the showers will be thundery in parts of scotland and i think along these eastern counties, so the further west you are on wednesday, the drier and sunnier it'll be. in fact, some of these western coasts could end up having a beautiful day — for example, in northern ireland and the welsh coasts. here's thursday — a northerly breeze, so a little on the cool side, and i think showers may become frequent in other areas, so no two days are going to be the same in the week ahead. temperatures 16—18 celsius, so really more of the same, something that we've been used to for days now. that's thursday. now you might be thinking about the weekend already. it's not long now.

the high pressure is expected to build across the uk and last all through the weekend, so that does promise some settled weather, and i think a lot of sunshine on the way as well. in fact, if you look at your apps, they should be already pointing to plenty of sunshine for friday, saturday, and sunday, and the temperatures pretty decent — as long as we get those sunny spells. that's it from me, bye—bye.

welcome to hardtalk. i'm stephen sackur. of all the potentially existential threats to life as we know it, from climate change to nuclear armageddon, here's one you may not have considered — a catastrophic collapse in the human birth rate. there's been a long—standing fear that a growing global population would outstrip our planet's ability to sustain it, but now, data scientists and demographers, like my guest today, stephen shaw, say we're actually facing a disastrous spiral of de—population.